Grade 10 Poetry Unit
 Ten things to consider in a poem.
 Poetic Devices
1.Alliteration
2.Hyperbole
3.Metaphor/Simile
4.Personification
 Rhyme, Rhythm, Couplets, Quatrains
 Poetry Quiz
 Poetry Expository Compare& Contrast Essay
Ten things to consider in a
poem:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
THEME
IMAGINATION
EMOTION
THOUGHT
PHILOSOPHY
DESCRIPTION
ATTITUDE TO LIFE AND MANKIND
ATTITUDE TO NATURE
CHARACTER
THE TOTAL EFFECT OF THE POEM.
Assignment #1
 Please turn to page 25 of
Crossroads textbook.
 Read the poem Laura Secord.
 Answer questions; a,b,c,d and the
self-assessment question.
Rhyme
 Rhyme is the repetition of sounds, usually the endings of
words.
man and can (single rhyme)
crazy and lazy (double rhyme)
braziness and craziness (triple rhyme)
 Rhyme is used to enhance or strengthen the mood or
emotion of a poem and helps give it unity.
 The purpose of rhyme is not only to lend a musical
quality to the poem, but also to make the sounds of the
poem emphasize its meaning.
On Being Much Better Than Most and
Yet Not Quite Good Enough
There was a great swimmer named Jack
Who swam ten miles out –
and nine back
-John Ciardi
Rhyme
 The most common type of Rhyme in poetry is called end
rhyme, which occurs at the end of lines!
As Jack and back in the previous poem
 Internal Rhyme occurs within a single line.
ex: The mean gleam in his eye and the deep crease in his
cheek.
 Often poets repeat a rhyme scheme or a meter pattern
within a four or five – line stanza.
A stanza is something like a paragraph in prose- it’s a
group of lines standing together.
Rhyme Scheme
 Find the rhyme scheme according to the sound at the
end of each line.
 Mark the first line with an A
 Find another line ending with the first line rhyme. Mark
that line with an A, continue through the poem, are
there any others?
 Following the same process, mark the second line or
rhyme with a B, then C and so on.
 Some poems you will notice a pattern, others have no
rhyme scheme at all
Dust of Snow – Robert Frost
The way a crow A
Shook down on me B
The dust of snow A
From a hemlock tree. B
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
The Crocodile – Lewis Carroll
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale.
How cheerfully he seems to grin!
How neatly spread his claws.
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!
Assignment #2
 Read the Poem Land of Counterpane
by Robert Louis Stevenson
 Mark out the Rhyme Scheme
 Examine the list of 10 Things to consider
when reading a poem. What 3 things from
this list could you apply when reading this
poem?
Alliteration
 The repetition of speech sounds in a
sequence of nearby words.
 The effect of alliteration is to call
attention to the words that contain it,
and often to underline their relationship
to each other in meaning.
Alliteration…
 Consonance is the sequence of
repeated consonants




Baffled the bird
Carried the cry
Hissed in the sun
The dark air carried my cry
Alliteration….
 Assonance is the repetition of
identical or similar vowel sounds –
especially in stressed syllables.
Thou foster child of silence and slow time
Lord Tennyson’s The Splendor Falls On Castle Walls
Carl Sandburg’s The Harbor
Assignment #3 A.E.Housman Eight O’Clock 
Extension/Further Reading – The Oxen by Thomas Hardy- Literary Essay
Meter
 The meter of poetry is based upon a
series of stressed and unstressed
syllables. Meter is important to the flow
of the words in a poem. A steady
rhythm in poetry will also make the
poem easier to remember.
 Meter is named for its foot – one
stressed and one or two unstressed
syllables. There are four different types
of meter.
….More on Rhyme,Rhythm and
Meter
 Ted Ed Video
Hyperbole
 An exaggeration statement not meant
to be taken literally, used mainly for
emphasis.
I am starving to death. (Said by someone
whom is very hungry)
I will die if I’m not invited to the party!
Sick by Shel Silverstein
Assignement #4 : mark out the Rhyme Scheme
and iambic pattern in this poem.
Metaphor
 An implied comparison. In a
metaphor only one part of the
comparison is stated and the rest is
left to the imagination.
Exapmle: The road was a ribbon of moonlight.
 Ted Ed Video
See Kooser’s The Closet Zoo
Sandberg’s Fog
 Homework Concrete Mixers by Patrica
Hubbell– Write one complete paragraph
making direct reference to the poem.
Simile
 Is a comparison that is introduced
with “like”, “as”, “so” or “as if” and
that stresses the resemblance
between two things.
 She looks like a rose.
 Till all was tranquil as a summer sea
Wordsworth’s Skating
Assignment #5; metaphor and simile
worksheet
Personification
 A figure of speech in which objects
are given human qualities.
 The sun played peek-a-boo with the clouds
See Pride
The Wind James Stevens
Assignment #6 - Wind- questions
Summative Assignments
 Poetry Quiz date:
 The Wind Compare and Contrast
Essay Due Dates:
 pre-planning  Rough Draft Peer Edit  Final Copy -